Alfred Jodl
Alfred Jodl was a German military officer born on May 10, 1890, in Würzburg, Germany. He began his military career in the Imperial Army during World War I, serving primarily in artillery and rising to the rank of Hauptmann (captain). After the war, Jodl maintained his military career in the reduced Reichswehr, eventually becoming a high-ranking officer in the Nazi regime, where he served as the chief of operations staff in the High Command of the Armed Forces. His military planning involved key operations during World War II, including invasions of several countries and the infamous planning of aggressive military strategies under Adolf Hitler's orders.
Jodl was later tried at the Nuremberg Trials, where he was convicted of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, primarily for his role in issuing orders that led to widespread destruction and execution of civilians and political officers. Despite his defense claiming he was merely following orders, the tribunal found him guilty, and he was executed by hanging on October 16, 1946. His posthumous acquittal in 1953 by a German arbitration board sparked discussions about accountability and the complexities of military obedience during wartime. Jodl's actions and convictions remain a significant part of discussions surrounding military ethics and the responsibilities of leaders in conflict situations.
Subject Terms
Alfred Jodl
Chief of Operations staff of the German High Command
- Born: May 10, 1890
- Birthplace: Würzburg, Germany
- Died: October 16, 1946
- Place of death: Nuremberg, Germany
Major offenses: Four counts of Nuremberg war crimes
Active: February, 1938-May 7, 1945
Locale: Theaters of German military operation
Sentence: Death by hanging; in 1953, he was posthumously exonerated by a German court
Early Life
Alfred Jodl (YOHD-ehl) was born on May 10, 1890 in Würzburg, Germany. He was educated in local schools and entered the military Cadet School in Munich as a teenager, graduating in 1910. Jodl enlisted as an officer in the artillery service of the German Imperial Army, attaining the rank of Leutnant (lieutenant) in 1912. During the first two years of World War I, Jodl served as an officer in a Bavarian artillery battery on the Western Front and was wounded twice. After a short stint on the Russian Front in 1917, he was shifted to a position as a staff officer and returned to the Western Front, where he served until the war’s end, having reached the rank of Hauptmann (captain). When the victorious Allies reduced the Imperial Army to the rump Reichswehr, Jodl retained his commission, obtaining the ranks of Oberstleutnant (major) in 1933 and Oberst (colonel) in 1935. In 1935, Jodl was given the position of chief of the national defense section in the High Command of the Armed Forces, in which he served as second-in-command to Wilhelm Keitel. He met Adolf Hitler for the first time in 1923, and the future führer took a liking to the Bavarian officer from Hitler’s adopted state. Jodl’s rapid advancement and high attainments were probably propelled by the fact that he was not a member of the Prussian Junker military aristocracy.
Nazi Career
The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg convicted Jodl of crimes against peace—both “conspiracy to wage aggressive war” and “waging aggressive war”—for actions beginning with the planning of Germany’s Anschluss with Austria in early 1938, which he carried out under orders from Keitel and pressure from Hitler. He was also a key figure in the German military plans for occupation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. After the success of this operation, in October, 1938, Jodl received the commission of artillery commander of the Forty-Fourth Division, which he held until late August, 1939. His promotion to general major was posted on May 1, 1939. Thus, though he did not oversee the planning of the Polish campaign, on its eve he was appointed chief of operations staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces. In this position, he played key roles in the planning of the invasions of Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands in the spring of 1940, and Yugoslavia and Greece in the spring of 1941. Planning for the invasion of the Soviet Union, known as Operation Barbarossa, began as early as July, 1940. In each of these cases Jodl played key roles in preparing the German armed forces for offensive operations against nonbelligerent nations. Though the impetus in each case came directly from Hitler, and Keitel served as Jodl’s superior military officer, the tribunal concluded that his complicity in the preparations and directions constituted crimes against peace.
The tribunal also succeeded in finding Jodl guilty of “war crimes,” which were generally defined as violations of the traditionally accepted limitations on violence or destruction in the course of war. In Jodl’s case it cited specifically his roles in issuing the infamous Commissar and Commando orders, which called for the summary executions of Soviet political officers and partisan leaders by German troops. Wanton destruction of buildings and other property was also grounds for conviction as a war criminal. The court cited the order of October 7, 1941, signed by Jodl, mandating the utter destruction of the Soviet cities of Moscow and Leningrad without regard to their surrender. It also cited his role in ordering the evacuation of northern Norwegians and the destruction of their homes as a measure against their aiding Soviet relief troops. The Norwegian government testified that some thirty thousand houses were damaged or destroyed as a result.
As for the fourth count, “crimes against humanity,” Jodl’s guilt was restricted to a single speech in November, 1943, given to military governors. In it, he urged them to be vigorous and remorseless in compelling the labor forces in occupied France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark to aid the construction of the Nazi coastal defenses.
On May 7, 1945, Jodl signed the papers by which the Germans surrendered unconditionally to the Allied forces. Immediately placed under arrest, he was incarcerated in Flensburg and then taken to Nuremberg for trial.
Legal Action and Outcome
Evidence against Jodl was largely in the form of his signature on key planning documents and orders that directed German military operations. They proved his presence at key meetings and planning sessions, and thus his complicity in the formulations of the various directives. In his defense, Jodl attempted to show how he had opposed the führer’s intentions in many of the cases and in others how he attempted to mitigate their effects. The tribunal found none of this compelling. Jodl’s key defense claim, that he was only following orders, had been prohibited as a defense by the countries involved in the proceedings. Jodl was condemned to death. Though he requested execution by firing squad, he was hanged with other convicted Nazis in Nuremberg on October 16, 1946. In 1953, a German government arbitration board considered his case and declared him posthumously acquitted of all charges on the grounds that he was only following his superior’s orders.
Impact
Alfred Jodl’s fate paralleled that of dozens of other Nazi German and Imperial Japanese military and political leaders and created the precedent by which victorious nations could impose post factum conditions on defeated enemy leaders, both military and civilian.
Bibliography
Barnett, Correlli, ed. Hitler’s Generals. New York: Grove Press, 2003. Brief but full discussions of twenty-six German generals, including Jodl, with an emphasis on why they allowed Hitler to make the blunders that he did.
Gilbert, G. M. Nuremberg Diary. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995. Firsthand observations and records of conversations with Jodl (and others) by a member of the prosecution.
Overy, Richard. Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945. New York: Penguin Books, 2002. Transcripts of formal interrogations with Jodl (and other Nazis) during the course of the Nuremberg war crimes trials.
Warlimont, Walter. Inside Hitler’s Headquarters. New York: Presidio Press, 1991. Military memoirs of Jodl’s assistant.